Prevalence of asthma, rhinitis and eczema among schoolchildren in Kelantan, Malaysia

Abstract

The prevalence and severity of asthma, rhinitis and eczema in Kelantanese schoolchildren were determined as part of an international study of the epidemiology of asthma and allergic diseases. The international study of asthma and allergies in childhood (ISAAC) written questionnaire was administered to 7055 schoolchildren from February 1995 to August 1995. The respondents were parents or guardians of 5-to 7-year-old children (n = 3939), and schoolchildren aged 12-14 years ( n = 31 16). The ISAAC video questionnaire (AVQ3.0) was shown to children aged 12-14 years after the written questionnaire. The overall prevalences of 'ever wheezed' and 'wheezing in last 12 months' were 9.4 and 6.0% respectively. The prevalence of 'ever diagnosed with asthma' was 9.4%. Both 'ever wheezed' and 'wheezing in the last 12 months' were significantly higher in 12to 14-year-old children than in 5-to 7-year-old children, with P values of 0.0006 and 0.014 respectively. No gender differences in the prevalences were observed. For the complete study group, 4.7% of children had sleep disturbed by wheezing but only 1.1% had a severe attack limiting speech in the preceding 12 months. Sleep disturbance was more common in the 12to 14-year-old children than in 5to 7-year-old children (P = 0.006). There was no difference between the age groups for severe attacks limiting speech. The overall prevalence of rhinitis and eczema symptoms were 27 and 12%, respectively. The prevalence of rhinitis in the 12-14 year age group (38.2%) was significantly higher (P c 0.OOOl) than in the 5-7 year age group (1 8.2%). The prevalence of eczema in the 5-7 year age group (13.7%) was significantly higher (P = c 0.0001) than in the 12-14 year age group (9.9%). These prevalence data are comparable with previous reports in Malaysian children, but are considerably lower than those reported for most developed countries ,

Prevalence of asthma, eczema and allergic rhinitis: Two surveys, 6 years apart, in Kota Bharu, Malaysia

“…The study populations on each occasion consisted of school children in the district of Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. In the 1995 study, 17 data was collected from February to August, and in 2001 from March to August. In both studies, primary and secondary public schools were randomly selected from the district of Kota Bharu.…”

“…In the 1995 survey, 17 3939 PS children and 3116 SS children participated, and in the 2001 survey, 3157 PS children and 3004 SS children participated. The overall response rate was 95.8% in 1995 (PS 95.7%, SS 96%) and 91.9% in 2001(PS 91%, SS 92.8%).…”

“…An identical Malay language ISAAC prevalence written questionnaire, which had been previously translated, 17 was used in both studies. An environmental questionnaire developed by ISAAC was added to the prevalence questionnaire during the 2001 survey.…”

Prevalence of asthma-like symptoms and assessment of lung function in schoolchildren born with low birth weight

“…The Malay version of the ISAAC questionnaire had been linguistically validated using backward and forward translations in a previous study. (11) The questionnaire focuses on past and current wheezing episodes, the frequency of wheezing attacks in the previous 12 months, sleep disturbance, speech limitation during a wheezing attack, exercise-induced wheezing and nocturnal cough.…”

Natural history of allergic rhinitis: our experience in Italy

“…The prevalence in countries of the Americas was comparable with European values with the exception of Mexico and Bolivia, where nasal illnesses deriving from allergies affect close to half of the population [11]. The prevalence in Asia and Oceania appeared extremely high [12,13], with the exception of Malaysia, Korea, China and Indonesia [14]. The situation in African countries remains unknown except in Nigeria (17%) and Ghana (9%).…”